Many electrical connectors are commercially available which are applied to a multiplicity of discrete cables, having an array of electrical terminals extending through passageways of the housing from terminations to the conductors of the wires forwardly to contact sections at least exposed across the mating face of the connector housing for mating with corresponding terminals of a mating connector. Commonly application apparatus for assembling such connectors to the wires utilizes tooling which is relatively complex in order to handle the end portions of the discrete wires for precise placement, and commonly the terminals are applied to the wires by crimping after which the thus-terminated wires are moved axially forwardly for the terminals to be extended through the passageways of the housing until fully seated therewithin.
In another approach, for multistrand conductors of 28 AWG twisted pair wires of a bundled cable, the stripped conductors of the plurality of wires are soldered to traces of a paddle card or transition card, which traces extend to a common forward edge and are then soldered to terminals of a connector for electrical connection thereto, and cover members are secured thereover. Similar such arrangements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,679,868 and 4,682,828. In a variation of this arrangement, U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,319 discloses a molded paddle card whereon discrete traces extend from the forward card edge to molded wire-receiving grooves adapted to receive stripped wire ends thereinto for soldering, after which the paddle card is fastened to a connector having terminals secured therein solderable to the card's traces.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,473 an array of microcoaxial conductors are terminated to a connector, with the discrete outer conductors soldered to respective nests of a common ground plate which includes several contact sections extending to the mating face of the connector, while the discrete inner conductors are terminated to respective signal contacts secured in the connector housing and extending to the mating face.
It is desired to provide a method of terminating a plurality of insulated small gage stranded wires of a shielded cable and assembling a connector thereto, including a means for grounding the cable shield.
It is desired to provide a housing assembly having components which are adapted for receipt of the discrete wire ends and further handling thereof as a unit during solder termination, and also provide inherent means for grounding the cable shield.